Persona Alpha
by 7.65x54R
Summary: AU/Elsewhere of P3. NYC,2009: Shadows stalk an unknown, 25th hour to harvest the guilt of humanity for purposes unknown. But, a select group of people oppose them, using the power to summon their inner selves, the power of persona. This is their story. Rated M for extreme language, moderate violence (including dismemberment), and some sexual themes towards the end.
1. It all starts with a 25th hour

Anyone like Persona AUs? well, I have my own offering to the scene. I call it Persona Alpha, an AU/elsewhere fic of persona 3. I don't really have much else to say, except for the obvious:

DISCLAIMER: I only own this fic. Persona (And for that matter, SMT in general) is owned by the Atlus corporation.

ONLY concrit or helpful reviews are appreciated. Because seriously, if you are going to flame or troll, DO IT ON A BADFIC!

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><p>NYC, Lower Manhattan, Astor PI , 023/09 HOUR UNKNOWN

Nighttime, except not. If an ordinary person were to describe their surroundings at this time, that is the most likely answer they would give you.

If they could remember, that is.

During this "unknown hour", mysterious creatures would appear, brutally attacking any human in sight. All those who fell at this time rose again as one of the creatures and joined the hordes, only to be reborn at the coming of dawn with no memory of the hour.

But, a select few oppose these creatures of the night. These people call upon creatures of their own to fight the shadows. Their power is the power of persona, the power to summon their inner selves to do battle with their enemies. But they bear the ultimate risk, as if they die in the unknown hour, they do not rise again.

"Agi!" yelled a tall, muscular teenaged boy as blue mist coalesced around his body. Then, above him, the shape of a demonic knight in red armor appeared. This was his persona, Eligor of the Devil arcana. Both persona and summoner thrusted their hands forward, with the persona unleashing a burst of fire from his palm. His target was a blue maya shadow rushing at him, which was struck dead on by the flames midway through it's charge. The shadow released a low gurgle as it burned into black mist.

Then, the teenager heard a bloodcurdling scream. "Senna!" he yelled, and turned around. Another teenager, a girl of average size and height, was being pinned against a wall by a black maya, screaming and kicking against the amorphous shadow.

"Double jab!" yelled the boy, and Eligor was summoned once again, this time rushing out to stab the maya with it's spear. The maya recoiled and turned around, where Eligor stabbed it again in the right eye. The maya dissolved, just as the last one did.

"Senna!" yelled the boy. "Senna!? Are you alright?" he said, concerned.

"I'll be fine." said Senna, wincing. She was referring to the gash in her leg the maya caused, as such a deep gash would impair her ability to walk until it healed. "It's just a flesh wound." she said before her friend helped her up to her feet. "Without Donner, we might not survive the next few nights, let alone find out what's causing this. What do we do now?" she muttered aloud before clutching her leg and groaning in pain.

The boy immediately assumed a sullen look when he heard Donner's name, but answered her question. " We have no choice. We need to ask Philemon for help."

Senna looked at the boy with a surprised expression. "We haven't seen Philemon in weeks." she said.

"Are you sure, Thad?" she said before limping towards him, touching the side of his face. Thad looked into Senna's green eyes and said "Yes. I'm sure.".

The two held each other as they looked at the bright yellow full moon, then began to walk (or, in Senna's case, limp) away.

A few minuets later, Thad and Senna were inside a garage. Said garage had several computer terminals, storage spaces for whatever improvised weapons they could make or find, and most importantly, a dusk receptacle. They commenced a ritual, connecting their plumes of dusk to the dusk receptacle and reciting a chant. In a spectacular display of blue mist and energy butterflies, a white-robed figure with a butterfly pattern on his mask appeared. This was Philemon.

"I can see why you summoned me." said Philemon. "You seek to add members to our group."

"You said that you couldn't find anyone worthwhile to grant your power to, right?" Thad said, somewhat angrily.

"Thad!" said Senna.

"Thad, I understand how you feel about Donner." said Philemon. "I'm very concerned as well. But there is news you will want to hear. I have found several candidates to grant the power to."

"What?" Thad exclaimed.

"I have found three potential candidates at this time." said Philemon. Perhaps,He thought to himself. They may hold the key to solving the mystery of the unknown hour.

2/4/09, 6:50AM

Lafayette street, Skyview apartment complex room 1102

"Ugh, what did I do to deserve this?" said a very slender teenage boy with pale skin as he rubbed his throbbing head. Apparently, he had fallen out of bed for the 6th time that week. Lifting himself up, he stumbled over to the closet and changed out of his pajamas and into a school uniform. "No one responded, so mom and dad must be at work already. Ah well, it's the first day of school." He thought to himself. "Life's going to be so good.".

As he walked out the door, he thought about meeting the kid he saw earlier at the before-school presentation. "He actually talked to me!" he thought. "He said that maybe we would be friends. For one I sure hope so.".

The streets of lower Manhattan were alive in the mornings. Cars rushing, people running to work, the bright sun, blue skies... "This is the life. Ah." said the boy. "I really wonder if I actually learn something." he wondered.

He took a slow walk to his school, which occupied the first 5 floors of an office building. By the time he had arrived at his school, it was 7:30. Said school was the Randell-Patterson preparatory high school, one of the most elite high schools in the state. The boy was grateful to be enrolled.

By the time the boy walked in, he had to show an ID in order to enter. Since he did not have a driver's license, he had to scan an ID card provided to him by the school. He scanned the card, with the monitor screen saying "Leo Metford, age 15, S:M".

Leo walked past the entrance, seeing that the school was lavishly decorated. Banners, fliers, and ribbons all welcomed students to begin their school year "At the place where dreams are realized". Heading towards the auditorium, Leo thought that the next year was going to be wonderful.

2/4/09, 7:20 AM

Broadway street, Earhart Apartments room 330

"BEEEEEEEP!", "BEEEEEEP!" followed by the arm of a somewhat muscular and tanned girl pounding the off button of the offending alarm clock. "Auugh! Fuck this, I'm going to be late!" screamed the girl a few minutes later.

"Now, Undine, no need for harsh language!" retorted her mother.

Undine hurriedly got dressed and gathered her supplies, about to rush out the door when her mother called her. "Sylph wants to go out with friends today, so make sure to clean the house."

"Fine mom." Undine replied sarcastically.

Undine rushed to the school, then rapidly scanned her driver's license. She ran through the halls to reach the auditorium, much to the complaint of a teacher. She fought through a crowd and reached her seat just in time.

2/4/09, 7:12 AM

Cooper square, RPHS dormitories

Looking out the window, a slightly muscular, yet lightweight teenager of healthy complexion could see the bustling city streets. This was a foreign environment to him, as he had never lived in a big city before. For a second he thought about his past, what he did to deserve his punishment. "That was then." he said mentally. "And this is now." referring to the new school year.

Getting dressed, he checked his watch and realized he had little time left. About to run out the door, he heard the dorm caretaker say "Have a nice day, Evan!"

"Sure I will." said Evan, half sarcastically.

Evan took the elevator down to the actual school itself, and calmly walked into the auditorium. He saw many students all sitting in preparation for the principal to deliver her beginning-of-year speech.

He looked around to find the boy he met at the open house, and found him at the back row. He tapped the boy on the shoulder. "Hey." he said to the boy.

"We meet again." replied the boy. "My name's Leo. I didn't catch yours." Leo said to him.

"Mine's Evan." he replied.

"That's a nice name." Leo complimented.

"As is yours." Evan replied.

"I didn't see you with your parents." Leo said. "Do you live in the dorm?"

"Yes, I do live in the dorm. My parents abandoned me. I don't really want to talk about it." Replied Evan.

"Oh. Sorry." Leo apologized.

"It's fine." said Evan.

Undine quickly sat down in front of them and asked "What are you two talking about?"

"You're Undine, Right?" said Evan.

"How do you know?" Undine inquired.

"I read the class schedules. We're in periods one, four, and six." Evan said.

"What about me?" asked Leo.

"You share periods one, two, four, and six with me." Evan replied. "Lucky us."

"Yeah, nice to meet my new classmates." Undine said sarcastically and turned away.

It was about time for the speech to start.

The principal talked about how the school was actually going to teach it's students something new, about how this was going to be a great year, etc., etc.

But the three didn't pay attention, instead retreating into their own thoughts. Leo thought about getting to know Evan, Undine thought about simply surviving another year, and Evan thought about being able to escape his past.

Off in the middle row, Senna thought about Philemon's words. Who could these three candidates be? Could they come from the school? Or could they be found elsewhere? She was very impatient, fidgeting in her seat.

"Senna?" Thad had noticed her fidgeting.

"I'm fine. It's just will we survive to see what's causing the unknown hour?"

"We will." said Thad.

Then, Thad noticed a familiar red baseball cap turned around in the row in front of him. Could it be?

"D?" he asked, whispering

"We'll talk after." Donner said.

Thad was very concerned for the safety of his friend, a fellow persona-summoner. He had known Donner since preschool, and they were very close.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of his head, he listened intently to the speech.

2:10 PM

After the speech had ended, Evan, Leo, and Undine walked to class. Evan mostly ignored the idle chatter of his two new friends until Undine suggested that they meet after school.

The first day was uneventful, if anything. The classes were usually dedicated to introductions rather than actual learning, with the exception of period four: history class.

"...And we think that's how the first cities started." said the teacher just as class ended.

"Well, that was surprisingly interesting." said Evan.

"Tell me about it!" replied Leo.

"History your favorite class?" asked Evan to his friend.

"You bet!" replied Leo happily.

"I hate history. It's so difficult." said Undine as the three classmates walked out into the hallway.

"I kind of liked it." said Evan.

"Well, do you at least like writing?" asked Undine to Evan.

"Uhh...yeah, sort of" he replied.

"I'm horrible at it." said Leo, sighing.

"You should seriously read some of the stuff I write." said Undine cheerfully.

"Where do you keep it?" asked Leo, clearly interested.

"On my computer. I'd prefer if I emailed it to you, but I kind of want to wait until we know each other better." answered Undine.

"That's fine." said Evan. Leo also said something similar.

"So, what do you write about?" asked Evan.

"Fanfiction, mostly." replied Undine

"Oh, What franchise?" Leo asked

"Final Fantasy is my favorite, but I've been playing Innocent Sin Online for some time, and I've wrote fics of that." answered Undine

"Oh, that MMO, I've heard of it." said Leo.

"Do you play it?" asked Evan.

"I'm more of a single-player gamer." replied Leo.

"I tell you, seriously play it, It's really good. You're missing out on a lot." said Undine as she walked off to the next period.

"Well, we need to split too. My next period's chemistry. What's yours?" Leo said to Evan.

"Writing." replied Evan.

The two friend walked into the forked hallway to their next periods.

3:00 PM

After school the three met outside the school to discuss their plans for that evening, which they had decided to spend together.

"I say we go out for dinner. I'm buying." said Evan

"Sorry, I have to watch the house cause my little sister's having a sleepover." said Undine, annoyed at the thought.

"Well, you can go out with me. I don't have any plans tonight." Said Leo, eagerly.

"Well, it's a deal, buddy!" said Evan, ruffling Leo's messy blond hair. Leo smiled at him.

"H-hey!" he said, laughing.

3:10

Thad found Donner walking home after school. After caching up with him, he said "D, you need to come back to us. I miss you. Senna misses you. I.."

He was cut off by Donner saying "I'm tired of this unknown hour crap. I just don't like having to keep secrets or risk my own life. Why should we care anyways? Besides, I thought you were a better match for Senna. And just because we don't fight together doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"Donner, I..." Thad was lost for words.

"I smashed my plume. I never wanted to play hero in the first place."

Thad sulked off, saddened. Philemon's candidates would have to come tonight.

5:30 PM

"Well, this isn't fine dining, but it's good nonetheless." Leo said, referring to the burger joint he and Evan had entered.

"How do you know it's good." said Evan.

"Because I've been here more times than I can count. You must be new here." replied Leo.

"I am. I moved here last month." Evan said.

Leo ordered a plain cheeseburger set, with Evan having a lettuce-and-ketchup combo.

As they ate, Leo said "What made you come to NYC?" to Evan.

Evan replied with "I spent some time in foster care. I moved here for school .Like my parents it's kind of uncomfortable for me."

"Oh." Leo said. "Can I tell you about my past?" he asked.

"Shoot." Evan said between mouthfuls of fries.

"Well, I've lived in New york my entire life."

"I could notice by the accent." Evan said.

"My parents work for the NYPD crime scene unit, so they're away most of the time."

"Latchkey kid?" Evan asked Leo.

"Yep. So I spend most of my time with friends."

"Lucky you. Because I move around a lot, I don't get to make lasting bonds." Evan said.

"Well, I hope you stay, because I want to have a bond with you." Leo said after he had finished his cheeseburger.

"Thanks." Evan said, blushing.

After they had finished their meal, Evan and Leo walked out onto the street.

"I like the city at night." Leo said. "I like the lights and the energy."

"As do I." said Evan.

"I know this is kind of early, but could you have a sleepover with me?" asked Leo. "I-I.. Most of my friends are kind of unavailable today." he stammered.

"Okay, I want to get to know you better anyway." Evan replied.

"Really?" Leo asked back.

"Yes." Evan answered.

"My house is at the corner of Lafayette, right next to the school." Leo said

"Good, it's close. Let's go." Evan said

Leo's green eyes met Evan's blue ones, and they walked off.

7:25 PM

Thad and Senna were sleeping together at Senna's house when she got a mental message from Philemon, saying the candidates were going to be revealed tonight.

"Thad...Philemon's going to reveal the new summoners this unknown hour." she said drearily.

"That's great. Hopefully we'll find Donner tonight too..." Thad said as his voice trailed off.

"You're so obsessed with him." Senna said.

"He was my best friend. I loved him." Thad said before falling asleep.

Senna soon fell asleep, wondering who the new candidates would be.

6:20 PM

As soon as Leo and Evan got to Leo's apartment, Leo got a phone call.

"Yeah...I'm having a sleepover with one of my new friends...oh, you were going to stay at the hotel anyways...good, good...I'm fine, I already had dinner." said Leo, after which he flicked his black cellphone closed.

"Your parents?" asked Evan.

"Yeah, they're away for the night, again." Leo said.

"Where are they staying at?" inquired Evan.

"Some hotel on the far end of 4th. They've started to do this ever since I was fourteen. Frankly I miss them." answered Leo.

Evan asked if he could turn on the TV. Leo said yes.

"Phoenix Ranger Featherman R?!" Stated an elated Evan.

"You like that?" asked Leo.

"Hell yeah! What do you like?" said Evan.

"I prefer either anime or some form of crime drama. No offense, but aren't you a little old to be watching PRFR?" answered Leo.

"I never had a normal childhood. I'll just watch whatever I can get, But Featherman is one of my favorites." Said Evan

"Okay." said Leo.

Checking the TV guide, Evan found that there was a Phoenix Ranger marathon playing now. "Sweet!" He called out.

"Well, do you mind if I play Devil Summoner next to you? I have headphones." said Leo, sitting down next to Evan and looping his arm around his friend's shoulders.

Content, Evan lay back and watched PRFR, occasionally looking at Leo and smiling at him, Leo would sometimes smile back.

After the marathon ended, Evan and Leo talked about their interests. It was the reason Evan agreed to have a sleepover with Leo, after all.

"What are you into?" asked Evan.

"RPG video games, crime dramas, mystery books, the like?" replied Leo

"You like cerebral things?" Inquired Evan

"Yes." replied Leo. "What do you like?" he asked his new friend.

"Mostly Athletic stuff." said Evan. "I played soccer in middle school. I'm pretty good at it."

8:40 PM

"Wow. Eight-forty already." said Evan. He had completely lost track of time.

"So where are you going to sleep?" Leo asked Evan "I've only known you for a day, so it's a little early to share a bed.".

"Just lay some blankets on the floor. I'll be fine." Evan replied.

"Oh, and one more thing before we sleep." said Leo

"What?" asked Evan.

"A hug. Are you that kind of person?"

"Not a lot of people hugged me, so I guess I'll take whatever I can get." he said.

After changing into their pajamas, Evan embraced Leo. "Man, this feels good." said Evan.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Leo said as he hugged his new friend back.

After they released each other, Evan left to sleep in the blankets laid out in the apartment living room. What a day, thought Evan to himself. He had finally found a friend that he felt he was going to be close to.

I like him, thought Leo to himself. His new closest friend could help him alleviate the loneliness of his daily life.

HOUR UNKNOWN

"Senna! Senna, wake up!"

Senna groaned and opened her eyes. Thad was fully dressed in his signature black jacket and green undershirt when he woke her.

"It's the unknown hour." he said. "Philemon said the new summoners are at Lafayette and Broadway."

Getting dressed into a white cardigan and black pants, Senna said "We need to find them. Besides, I need to train Phenex.".

Walking out, they saw the people panic at the sight of the purple sky and raining shadows. Every time a bolt hit the floor, shadows spawned from it. Retreating back into the apartment to avoid the crowd, they waited until said crowd had dispersed and ran into the forked street.

"There's nothing we can do to save them." Senna said to a solemn Thad. "Besides, they'll just come back when it ends."

"Right." said Thad. "We need to go to Broadway."

"Ugh. My head. Wait, where am I?!" Evan said as he looked at his surroundings, seeing a bizarre world of mist with a single platform that he stood on.

"Did I fall again? Okay...this is weird." said Leo after he spontaneously appeared next to Evan.

"Do you have any Idea where we are?" Leo asked his friend.

"No. I think this is a dream." Evan replied.

"The most important dream of your lives." said a mysterious voice, after which Evan and Leo looked for the source, finding it in the form of a white-robed figure with a butterfly pattern on his opera mask.

"Who are you?" Evan and Leo asked in unison.

"No need to be afraid." said the figure. "I am Philemon."

"The Jungian spirit guide?" exclaimed Leo.

"Jung simply discovered me. I have existed as long as mankind has." Said Philemon. "I am the embodiment of humanity's psyche, of it's conscious and unconscious realms. I-"

"Enough with the psychobabble. You must have brought us here for a reason, right?" Evan asked Philemon, directly .

"I did."said Philemon. "Mysterious forces are rising against mankind. Every night, shadows appear during an "unknown hour" and attack humans, stealing their souls to expand their hordes, and feeding on their guilt-"

"How can we trust you?" said Leo. "I've never experienced this "unknown hour" and there's no empirical evidence that it exists."

"That's because everything returns to normal after the hour ends." said Philemon. "No-one remembers it, and all damage is reversed, the dead return if they are killed at this time." he said.

"What did you bring us here for?" asked Evan.

"The shadows are harvesting the guilt of mankind in for unknown, but nefarious purposes. I have selected you to investigate. To defend yourselves against the shadows, I grant you the power to summon your inner selves. The power of persona." and with that, Philemon produced two orbs of light. One purple, one gray, and sent them towards Leo and Evan, respectively.

"Why choose us?" asked the two as the orbs of light merged with them.

"You will find out in due time." said Philemon as mist clouded the two human's visions, and they fell back to sleep.

Leo shot up and awoke, seeing Evan by the door. "What a weird dream." Leo said.

"What dream?" asked Evan.

"I dreamt of the Jungian spirit guide..." said Leo drearily

"I had the same dream!" said Evan.

"That's statistically unlikely." Replied Leo.

"Well you're going to want to see this. The sky is purple and it's raining blobs." said Evan with a deadpan voice.

"Okay, what!?" said Leo, in disbelief.

"Come with me." said Evan. He helped Leo out of his bed and walked to the living room with him. Leo could see through the window that what Evan said was indeed right.

The two of them could see shadowy monsters of all shapes and colors attacking the helpless people below.

"I think that Philemon guy said we could stop them?" said Evan

"Yes, using "personae", right?" Said Leo

"Yeah, well, we need to investigate. Let's get dressed." said Evan.

"We'll need some kind of weapon, just in case." Leo said. "My dad has a Gun locker. Do you have any experience with guns?" he asked Evan.

"Mostly handguns." said Evan as he dressed into a gray shirt and jeans.

"Me too." said Leo as he changed into a red shirt, black jacket, and beige slacks, surprised. "By the way, how did you learn to use guns?" he asked Evan.

"Me and my parents used to live in a cult. Everyone had to learn how to defend themselves." he replied. "Like with my parents, it's kind of touchy."

"Oh, sorry." replied Leo.

After unlocking the gun locker, Evan and Leo took a P220 and a Glock, respectively. Before they left, Evan asked if he could take a spare Tac-Knife, which Leo replied in the affirmative.

They proceeded to take the elevator down to the first floor, where the saw a green maya break through the glass front door. "Eat this!" Evan and Leo yelled as they pulled out their guns and shot the maya at the same time, causing it to dissolve.

"Well, if we can beat them mundanely, why would we need personae?" wondered Evan aloud.

Walking out the front door, they could see the city in chaos. Shadows were attacking citizens left and right, and the police struggled futilely against the creatures. "This may be why we need them." said Leo. Then...

"Leo! Evan!"screamed a familiar voice.

"Undine?" Leo and Evan said in unison.

Undine ran up to them, saying "I'm so glad you two are alright!", and hugging them both tightly.

"What are you doing here? It's dangerous." said Evan and Leo, releasing themselves from Undine.

"I dreamt of this weird dude that called himself Philemon, and he said something about a persona and the unknown hour-"

"We had the same dream." said Evan and Leo.

"And then this guy and girl came into my house and said I needed to come with them. Talk about weird!"

"Undine!" said the boy that Undine described, "You must be Evan and Leo. Undine told us about you. I'm Thad."

"And I'm Senna." said the girl as she stepped out of the shadows.

"We can use personae." said Thad.

"Well, why can't we?" said Undine, Leo, and Evan.

"Yours need to awaken." said Senna.

"They what?" said the three.

"If placed in a hostile situation, a summoner's persona will awaken and repel the attacker." said Thad.

Undine heard heavy footsteps, "Looks like that situation is coming!"

Then, a yellow gigas shadow barreled through a fountain and slammed into Thad and Senna, sending them into a nearby statue base just as Evan jumped out of the way.

Evan aimed his gun at the back of the gigas's head and fired, causing the gigas to turn around and make a guttural roar. As it was about to charge him, blue mist formed around him, and then he could see a green energy blast strike the gigas as it launched, knocking it over. He looked up, seeing what appeared to be a Mesopotamian statue of a man with 1950's "space opera"-esque mechanical portions on it's arms, legs, torso, and head. Most noticeable were the mechanical frog and cat heads on it's shoulders. It had a jetpack that appeared to use guitar cases as thruster housings. And it was holding a pair of toy-like "rayguns" in each hand. Before he could take it all in, Evan heard a deep yet mechanical voice say:

"I art thou...thou art I... I am Bael of the fool arcana. I am the lord of the heretics, the master of the Canaanites, the one who commands blasphemy. Now, let us walk this path together."

Grabbing his head, Evan looked backwards at Undine and Leo, who were helping Senna and Thad up, unabashedly staring at him.

"Uh... I don't think that thing is dead." said Evan, shyly.

"It's not." said a grimacing Senna. She freed herself of Undine's grasp and summoned her persona, Phenex of the sun arcana.

As Senna screamed "Kouha!", Phenex appeared. It was a giant flaming bird covered in blue fire, with a long beak and legs, not unlike a crane. Phenex crossed it's wings and then glowed bright teal before flaring it's wings out, sending a teal apparition of itself at the gigas as it got up. The holy blast struck the gigas dead-on, causing the gigas to stumble backwards, not yet defeated.

Senna clutched her bleeding side and fell with a scream.

"You're hurt." said Undine. "You need medical attention."

"It'll be fine once the hour ends. Besides, emergency services is likely to have been destroyed." replied Senna.

"My turn!" said Thad as he forced himself away from Leo and yelled "Agi!"

At that moment, Eligor was summoned again. The demonic knight had two very noticeable horns atop his helmet, bright red armor, a spiked spear with two tips on either end, clawed fingers, and finally, circular orbs in his elbows and knees. Eligor outstretched his hand, sending a fireball at his target, but the gigas just shrugged it off and charged again.

This time, everyone got away from the shadow as it struck the statue Senna and Thad were thrown into.

Not strong enough to topple it, the gigas held it's head in pain and recoiled.

Leo thought "This is an ideal time to attack!" and was about to say it when the same blue mist coalesced around him and his persona awakened. In his case, Leo looked up first, seeing a black winged figure made of smoke with a long staff that had a black orb covered with a horned skull at the tip. The figure also wore a tattered gray hoodie-longcoat combination with a distinctive raven logo on the back. Returning his view to ground level, Leo saw his persona create a purple rune that summoned a portal, firing a blast of black energy at the gigas. Then, he heard a low, droning voice say to him:

"I art thou...thou art I... I am Malphas of the hermit arcana. I am the keeper of hidden and eldritch knowledge, the wizard that foretells the doom of all who live. Now, let us walk this path together."

"Wow." said Evan, stunned.

"Thanks!" said Leo, blushing and smiling at his friend.

"Hey, no fair that all the boys get to summon all the cool monsters!" Undine complained in the background, when...

The gigas had shrugged off Malphas's Mudo, and charged at Evan and Leo, grabbing them. Undine looked helplessly at her friends when suddenly blue mist formed around her as well. She looked up to see a female figure wearing a black jumpsuit that exposed her back, showing runic tattoos and a pair of huge bat-like wings. It looked back at her, revealing a face that was angular like hers, but visibly older-more adult-like. It even had red hair in twin pigtails just like it's summoner. Then the persona flared out it's wings and looked straight into the eyes of the gigas before beams of energy came from the eyes of the persona. The beams struck the eyes of the shadow and it fell over, paralyzed. Undine then heard a feminine, sultry voice say:

"I art thou...thou art I... I am Walrider of the hunger arcana, the commander of man's lusts and carnal desires. I control the hearts of those foolish enough to oppose us. Now, let us walk this path together."

Undine stammered as she looked at Evan and Leo, who had been dropped by the massive shadow as it was paralyzed.

"Nice!" they said to her, cheering her on.

"T-Thanks." she said meekly.

Evan, Leo, and Undine rushed over to Senna and Thad, who were still bleeding, if mildly.

Thad coughed up blood, then groaned "That thing won't stay paralyzed for long. We need to attack it now!"

Senna stood up with Undine's help, and said "It's yellow; that means it's weak to Bael's wind attacks!"

"Got it!" said Evan.

"We gang up on it after the wind knocks it into the air!" said Leo

"Good plan!" said Undine.

Evan stepped forwards and then summoned Bael with a yell of "Garu!" and then his persona appeared, firing a wind blast at the gigas that threw the shadow into the air, at which point Evan yelled "Now!" to the others.

Then, a cacophony of voices called on their personae.

"Eligor!"

"Phenex!"

"Malphas!"

"Walrider!"

Leo's persona was the first to act, using Rakunda to weaken the gigas's defenses.

Phenex went next, using Kouha to throw the gigas even further into the sky.

Eligor then took over, stabbing the gigas with it's spear.

Then, finally, Walrider flew up to Eligor, winked at him, and then grabbed the gigas by the crotch, squeezing it to make the gigas screech, then forcing it off Eligor's spear and throwing it downwards. Undine then called to Evan.

"Right!" Evan said, and called Bael's name again. The persona appeared and fired a green wind shot from it's right raygun, which struck the shadow in the back and caused it to dissipate violently into yellow and red particles.

The group of persona-users cheered on their victorious new members just as the hour began to reverse itself.

"What's happening?" said Undine.

"The unknown hour is reversing itself." said Thad.

"It does this every time?" asked Evan.

"Yes, it does." replied Senna.

"What about you?" Undine said. "You're injured!"

"Injuries heal after the hour reverses." said Thad.

"And remember, don't tell anyone." said Senna.

"I doubt they'd believe us." replied Leo.

Then, their surroundings began to contort in a swirl, eventually forming a tunnel that split off, depositing each member of the group into the places where they were when he hour started, in this case, their bedrooms.

2/5/09 6:00 AM

Leo awoke with memories of the unknown hour fresh in his mind. "Dear God." he said, referring to the secret he would have to keep from this point on.

Evan also woke up, well rested despite the obvious adrenaline rush he had experienced during the unknown hour. "Well, that's one hell of a way to start a year."

Leo walked out to the living room, and saw Evan laying on the blankets, relaxed.

"How did you sleep?" he said.

"Pretty good." replied Evan.

Leo helped Evan out of the bed and embraced him suddenly, stroking Evan's airburn bowl-cut.

"I like you." he whispered into his friend's ear.

"H-Hey!" Evan said as he hugged his friend back, somewhat embarrassed.

When the two friends released, they looked out the window of the living room and into the dawnlight. Leo took a hold of Evan's hand. Evan looked at Leo and smiled. Leo smiled back.

"I hope we're friends forever." said Leo, leaning on Evan.

"Me too, best friend." said Evan happily as he touched his friend's messy blond hair.

7:00 AM

Undine lay half-naked in bed, gazing out the window and into the city. "I wonder if I'll see Thad and Senna again?" she thought to herself.

She then hugged a pillow, which felt cool against her exposed midsection. "Ah well, at least I'll see Leo and Evan today at school."

7:05 AM

Senna felt Thad's hand go under her shirt and dig her navel, which woke her. She giggled, as she was ticklish there, and looked at Thad, who was smiling at her.

"Hey, we survived." he said.

"Philemon's new candidates really are something." she replied.

"Yeah. I really think we can find out what's causing the hour, now that we have them on our side." said Thad.

"Finally you're not moping about Donner." she said.

Thad sighed.

"Sorry." said Senna.

And thus began the journey of several new persona-summoners as they intend to find the answers hidden in the unknown hour...

* * *

><p>AN: How did the first chapter go? I know that it's too little information to create a genuine opinion, but still, first impressions?

Also, the existence of the Kouha and Mudo not being an instant-kill goes back to persona one. some mechanics such as the type/subtype system, element/force divide, light and dark not being instant kills, and multiple personae per character(No wild cards here) are all taken from Megami Ibunroku Persona.

If you liked it, stay tuned, there's more where this came from!


	2. Idolater's society

Hey, I'm back! And I (obviously) have a new chapter. This one's a little short compared to the first, and it mostly serves as exposition.

* * *

><p>Cooper square, 25/09, 1:15 PM:

The RPHS cafeteria was, like the auditorium, effectively a hallway. It was square in shape and mostly used to house the kitchen. There were few actual seats and tables, so most people ate in the classrooms.

"Hey look, there's Thad and Senna!" said Undine as she, Evan, and Leo got their lunch bags. Lucky for them, there were three seats open at the table Thad and Senna were at. "We have a few questions." said Leo, sitting down in front of Senna.

"What about?" she asked, cheerfully.

"It's about the unknown hour." whispered Undine.

Thad and Senna raised their eyebrows.

"What about it?" answered Thad, somewhat impassively.

"Well, does it happen every day?" inquired Evan.

"It's sporadic. You don't know when it's going to show up, except during a full or new moon." answered Senna, between mouthfuls of chicken sandwich.

"And the only thing we know about why it happens is what Philemon told us." said Thad, "That these shadows harvest guilt, whatever that means. We don't even know the point of it. Philemon doesn't even know the point of it."

"Why are you upset?" asked Undine to Thad.

Thad looked away to another table, to a kid his age wearing a red baseball cap. He sighed, " It's my friend. He used to be part of our group. Now he left. I'm not even sure he can summon his persona anymore."

"How long have you known him?" asked Evan.

"Since preschool." replied Thad.

"Oh." Leo winced.

"We used to be very close. I loved him and... he loved me back." said Thad, almost mournfully.

"Why did he leave you?" inquired Undine.

"He was afraid of dying because he didn't want to leave his single mom behind." answered Senna.

"What happens when we die then?" asked the three new persona-summoners, somewhat dreading the thought.

"We don't know, and we'd rather not risk it." replied Thad.

"Can we talk about this after school? It's kind of sensitive." whispered Senna.

"Got it." replied Evan.

3:30 PM:

The five summoners met outside the school.

"Yeah, back to the unknown hour, what types of shadows have you encountered?" asked Leo to Senna.

"We have these little blob things with hands and weird masks called mayas." she replied, "the giant one we fought yesterday is what Philemon calls a gigas."

"Then we have these rocky arms that come out of a portal and hold meter-long swords." interjected Thad, "We call those ones thrnos."

"Well, I just noticed the fact that most of the other shadows didn't seem to notice us when we were fighting the gigas last night." Evan stated curiously, "What, with all the commotion we caused. Is it like just some shadows notice us while the others focus on everyone else?"

"Apparently." said Senna, "Even if we attack some of them, they just seem to ignore us."

"Why is that?" asked Undine, puzzled

"Not even Philemon knows, because if he did, he'd tell us." responded Thad.

The same student with the baseball cap walked up to the group and said "We need to talk." to Thad.

"Donner, I... fine." Thad said and walked off with the student.

"That Thad's friend?" asked Undine.

"Yeah." replied Senna, "His name's Donner."

Off in the smoking corner of the building, Thad and Donner were having a mild argument.

"Last night the unknown hour happened and I got pulled into it!" said Donner, "I thought you said that if I smashed my plume of dusk, I would lose my persona!"

"I never said that!" replied Thad.

The two of them got a mental message from Philemon, in which he said "You can never truly lose your persona. Destroying the plume of dusk would only prevent you from being able to summon me." to Donner.

"I don't want to be a part of this anymore!" yelled Donner mentally.

"Donner, you joined me because you wanted to help me, right?" said Thad, "Look, you don't have to join us again, but I want you to be safe, and the best way is to be with us."

Donner sighed, "Fine, but I'll only be with you, we ditch the others for one night, and we just try to survive."

"That's the Don I know!" said Thad.

Donner blushed, and ruffled Thad's black hair, saying "That's the Thad I love." somewhat sarcastically.

9:55 PM:

Thad met with Donner at the garage that served as the group's headquarters during the unknown hour. There, they got a mental message from Philemon...

Philemon also sent the message to Undine, Leo, Evan, and Senna.

The contents were as follows: "I have found another persona-user. Bizarrely, she already has the ability to summon her own persona, despite the fact that I've never contacted her. The bad news is that her persona is based around surveillance, and cannot fight. Her name is Florence Garderbelt, and she lives at the crossing of E8th and Lafayette. Donner, Thad, you two are the closest to her, so once the hour begins, contact her. Wait for the beginning of the unknown hour, I have another message. Meet in the garage in Thad's apartment complex for further details."

HOUR UNKNOWN:

Leo shot up, and changed into his casual clothes before calling Evan, "I think we need to meet up at Thad's house first before we do anything."

"We need to make a plan before we rescue her." replied Evan.

"Yeah, I'll be there shortly." said Leo.

"As will I." responded Evan.

The minute they stepped out their doors, Leo, Evan, Undine, and Senna found their surroundings change into a tunnel that they slid through. Their surroundings changed back when they arrived in the garage, where Thad and Donner were already waiting.

"Philemon said something would happen once we got here." said Undine, touching her exposed white undershirt.

Then, Leo, Evan, Donner, and Undine were compelled to hold out their hands. When they did, blue light flashed and they were left holding crystals.

"Those are plumes of dusk." said Senna, "They let us summon Philemon."

"I didn't know these things regenerate." said Donner.

"I didn't know either." replied Senna, "Now, you see that in the middle of the room?" she pointed to a large device with several holders about the right size for the plumes, "That's a dusk receptacle. You place the plumes in those arms on the sides. I'll press the button in the middle, and that summons Philemon."

When summoned, Philemon immediately began to speak. "I understand that this must be difficult for you, so I have offered some assistance..." in front of him levitated several blue keys, "These keys unlock the door to the velvet room, where you can summon additional personae beyond just your initial ones."

Everyone took a key as it was levitated towards them. "I wish you luck." said Philemon, and with that, he disappeared.

"Okay, we need to make a plan." said Evan

Donner spoke, "I'm going to go after Florence with Thad. Senna, you seek out any dangerous shadows close to our base. You three, help Senna."

"Got it!" said Evan. He turned to Senna, "Do you have some sort of scanner?".

"It's short-range only." Senna replied.

"I'm going up." said Undine, "We need a lookout."

"I'm better at that."said Senna, "Walrider doesn't have any ranged attacks."

Donner and Thad ran up the stairs to ground level when they spotted a particularly huge white thrnos shadow crushing a SWAT van with it's blunt sword. Thankfully, It didn't notice them. They continued running to Florence's apartment when they found a blue strongman shadow climbing up the building.

"Eligor!" yelled Thad, and the red demon knight appeared, proceeding to send out a fire spell that struck the strongman and caused it to fall from the building. However, the strongman got up and charged the two teens, at which point...

Donner yelled "Power Slash!" and his persona, Berith of the hanged-man, appeared above the blue mist that surrounded him. This persona was also a demonic knight, wearing black plate-mail with purple gems in the shoulders, legs, and helmet, which was spiked and angular. It wielded a blue thin-bladed sword with a violet gem in the center of it's handguard, a green pommelstone, and a triangular shield with heraldry depicting yet another demon knight. Berith rushed forward, lifting up it's sword midway through and charging it with energy, and then slashing the strongman, bisecting it.

"You haven't gotten rusty!" said Thad to Donner, cheerfully.

"Like Philemon said, you can't loose this." he replied.

The two friends ran into the apartment complex, after which Philemon sent them a mental message stating that Florence lived on the 3rd floor.

When they reached Florence's room, they could see that a group of maya shadows had already torn her parents to bloody shreds and were coming for her, but she was attempting to fight them off with a broom.

Thad and Donner summoned their personae...

"Rakunda!"

"Sonic Punch!"

Then, the 3 mayas were weakened by a wave of magic, and one was struck with Berith's shield, dissolving almost instantaneously afterward.

Eligor was summoned again, this time to stab the yellow maya that was rushing his summoner. Berith used Power Slash on the last maya, which had knocked the broom out of Florence's hands. Both were easily defeated.

"Who...Are you?" asked a clearly traumatized Florence. She was the same age as the rest of the summoners, with blond hair tied in a ponytail and silver eyes.

"We just saved you. Get dressed, you need to come with us." said Donner.

After Florence got dressed into a pink blouse and gray jeans, Thad and Donner introduced themselves.

"What about my parents?" she asked.

"They'll come back to life once this ends, but they won't remember." said Donner.

"We need to get you out of here, it's not safe." said Thad.

Walking out of the apartment, Florence asked why they wanted to rescue only her. Donner and Thad said they would explain once she was safe.

Then...

"Thad, you better come see this!" phoned Senna. Rushing to the garage, the three could see what Senna was warning. A group of four thrnos, including the large white one spotted earlier and a large horde of mayas and zombie-like goffs were advancing toward the building.

"Get Florence inside!" yelled Senna.

Florence ran inside the apartment's front door and rushed down to the garage. There, she had a mysterious surge of power. Blue mist coalesced around her and she looked up, seeing that she was surrounded by a mechanical rig. Hanging from the top of the rig was a bizarre mechanical construct resembling a human body hung upside down. Instead of legs, it had cables starting at where the knees should have been. It's "arms" were thin, bifurcated, and tipped with cameras. The head was rectangular with a smooth, angled back top portion with a camera for an "eye" in the center. Florence herself was suspended in a control booth of sorts, mounted under the outer rig, which held a rim of cameras. Florence was flooded with information, instantly understanding what a persona was, what shadows were, and when the unknown hour occurred. Then, her persona finally spoke in a kind, majestic but recorded voice:

"I am thou...Thou art I... I am Ishmael of the Priestess arcana. I can divine the weaknesses of our enemies, enhance the strength of our allies, and transfer information faster than any human device. Now, let us walk this path together."

"The white sword-arms are weak to darkness, but the goth zombies have a weakness to light and forces!" Florence called mentally, and her persona sent it as a telepathic message to all the other persona-summoners.

"Got it!" yelled Evan.

"You can use force attacks! Hit the goth zombies with a Mazan!" Florence said.

Evan ran up to the lookout position at a patio, "You will fall, persona!"crossing his arms as the blue mist formed around him and Bael was summoned again. The robotic statue persona aimed it's left raygun at a group of five goffs and fired a lime-green blast shot that struck the first goff and split off into a mass of small green explosions that flared out in a circular pattern, destroying all five goffs at the same time.

"My turn!" said Leo, running up to the same position and holding his arm out, "Take them down, persona!" and summoning Malphas, who upon Leo's call of "Eiha!", thrust it's staff forward, pointing it's tip down. A blast of crimson energy launched from the orb that tipped the staff, striking a white thrnos in the mask in the crossguard of it's sword and causing it to topple.

However, the other thrnos and mayas had noticed.

"I summon you, persona!" called Undine, with Walrider flying out and hovering above the shadow horde, at which point the summoner called "Slumpa!". Walrider cupped her hands, with a frown face emoticon forming in them that promptly opened it's mouth, firing a thick wave of misty lavender particles that washed over the shadow horde. Each shadow was hit with it's own form of bad luck: thrnos were unable to lift their swords, and mayas scrambled about with their arms, unable to move.

"Hit them now!" called Florence.

"On it!" yelled the others.

Senna went first, with Phenex using Mazio to "soften up" the shadow horde, paralyzing most of them in the process.

Then Thad and Donner initiated a fusion raid, which combined Eligor's Maragi with Berith's Multislash. As a result, Berith's sword was lit on fire, and could cut through the mayas with ease, as demonstrated by Berith deftly slashing the first maya, then jumping to the next and slashing it, and repeating the cycle until five of the eight mayas were defeated.

Undine then ran out of the front door and summoned Walrider again, this time for a physical attack. With her calling "Infinite spiral!", Walrider created a whip of energy and drew it across the remaining mayas and thrnos, destroying all the remaining mayas and heavily injuring the thrnos.

Finally, Evan and Leo initiated a fusion raid of their own, combining Bael's Frei with Malphas's Magry. Both of them yelled "Fusion singularity!" and Malphas and Bael fired both of their attacks, the multiple purple gravity orbs reaching the radioactive orange pulse midway through. When the combined attack hit the first of the three remaining thrnos, the energy blast split, each one striking a different thrnos. Bombarded by gravity orbs that detonated with nuclear energy, the thrnos were flung into the air, paralyzed by the gravity and thrown by the sheer force of the nuclear shot.

Upon hitting the ground, the thrnos dissipated because of the force of the impact. However, the other summoners could hear Florence scream telepathically.

"Uggghhhhh..." moaned Florence, collapsing in exhaustion.

Undine ran up to her and helped her to her feet, "What else can you do? It's not really that useful to scan the weaknesses of these shadows cause you can tell by the color."

"I can scan anywhere in the city, cast weakening magic from a distance, and I can hack anything, apparently. At least, that's what my persona told me."

Florence leaned on Undine for support, holding her with her right arm. Undine blushed slightly.

"I'm probably not going to have a good school day tomorrow." Florence groaned, "I'm so tired."

"That'll go away when the hour reverses itself." said Donner.

Florence looked at him, puzzled.

"That just means that everything's going back to normal." Said Thad.

"Will all the other people who died come back?" she asked.

"Yes, just like your parents." Answered Donner.

"How long?" Florence asked.

"Despite it's name, the unknown hour can last for much longer than an hour." said Senna, "So basically, we don't know."

Florence groaned. She was tired and somewhat upset about her parents despite the fact that they were coming back. " What do we do now?"

"Let's hunker down here." said Undine, "Is it safe from shadows?"

"One could in theory break into here, but due to Philemon's presence, most ignore it." said Thad.

"Well, it sound safe to me." said Undine when the environment around them contorted into the same tunnel that showed up yesterday.

"What's happening?" asked an amazed Florence.

"The unknown hour is reversing. Listen, only we can remember what happens at this time. Don't tell anyone about what happened here, they won't believe you. And, meet up with us if this ever happens again, you'll be safer." said Undine.

"Okay." said Florence.

The tunnel forked after a few seconds, causing the summoners to slide their separate ways.

Cooper square, 2/6/09, 2:20 PM:

Undine was very bored when she walked into the fifth-period chemistry classroom when she spotted a familiar yellow ponytail. Could it be...

"Okay class, we have a new student! Please say hello to Florence!" said Mrs. Tori as a blushing Florence walked up to the front of the classroom. "

Uhhhh...hi." she said nervously.

The other students began to whisper.

"Hi!" said Undine, cheerfully.

Florence smiled at her.

"Please choose your seat." asked Mrs. Tori to Florence, who picked a conveniently empty seat next to Undine.

"Uh... we need to talk later." she whispered to Undine.

"Got it." Undine replied.

Florence found chemistry class to be quite interesting, compared to Undine, who was obviously not paying any attention.

3:00 PM:

Florence walked out of the school with Undine by her side. To pass the time the two talked about their personal interests.

"I'm into writing Fanfiction." said Undine, "What're you into?"

"Singing." said Florence, "And playing piano."

"Do you have any siblings?" asked Undine.

"An older pair of twin brothers, but they're in college now." said Florence

"I have a younger sister. She's only two years younger than me, though." Replied Undine.

"I recognize your name." said Florence to Undine, "It means Water Nymph." she said, smiling. "It's a beautiful name."

"Thanks." replied a blushing Undine, "I like your name too. It's just as pretty."

"Ohhh thanks." said Florence, "Since I can use a persona..." she whispered, "I'd like it if we became friends."

"That's practically in the job description." Undine said, "Our power's apparently strengthened by the bonds of others. Most of us know each other pretty well."

"Hey Undine!" called Evan as he and Leo ran up to the bench where they were sitting at.

"Thad said we need to come to the garage again. Also, could you come with us, Florence?" said Leo

"Not a problem."

"Alright. Thad said to meet there at four, so we have a little less than an hour." said Evan.

"Got it." said Undine and Florence, before they continued talking...

4:00 PM:

Evan, Leo, Undine, and Florence walked into the garage in the basement of Thad and Donner's apartment building.

"Why did you call us this time?" asked Undine, hands relaxed behind her head.

"It's about the velvet room." said Senna, "Philemon gave us those keys, remember? Now I think we've absorbed them, which means we can access the room at any time. Problem is, we don't know how to enter."

A round of disappointed moaning struck the four newest summoners.

"Fret not." said Philemon mentally to the summoners, "Simply concentrate for now, I'll send you there."

All six summoners concentrated and then found themselves in a room colored with blue velvet. Said room was basically a platform with five computer terminals in the center, and outside the platform, massive screens could be seen. The platform was separated from the abyss below by six panes of vertical glass. In each of the background screens, a different person could be seen...

an opera singer, who introduced herself as Belladonna "Who sings of the gods and demons within the hearts of man."

a blindfolded pianist who simply called himself Nameless "The pianist who plays the hymn of the soul."

a leather-clad artist who referred to himself as the shadow painter "Who's art depicts the depths of the human psyche."

and finally, a deformed dwarfish man with a long nose and a bloodshot eye who was called Igor.

"Greetings." said Igor, ever the gentleman. "My master Philemon has granted me permission to help you create new personae."

The six summoners were stunned.

"Your initial personae are not the only ones you can use. Here, in the velvet room, you can create more powerful personae to serve you."

"M-may we ask h-how do we get new personae?" asked a nervous Florence.

"Good question." replied Igor, "Your initial personae are manifestations of your own psyches. But, form a significant enough bond with someone else, and a part of their soul becomes a part of yours. That bond can be used to create a persona out of someone else's psyche, a process I call social linking."

"So, we bond with someone else, and we get to summon their persona?" asked Evan.

"Not exactly. Pardon me, I always leave out the most important bits. You need a totem, an item charged with the emotions you have with that person, to summon that persona. When it is time, bring the totem here, and I will extract the emotional energy to create a new persona."

"May I ask how do we get here?" asked Undine, looking around the room.

"You must simply think it, and you will be here." answered Igor. "Also, Philemon has asked for me to give you one final gift."

The five computers began to show schematics of different weapons before spontaneously manifesting them out of the core processor in the middle. Each weapon case flew towards it's respective owner.

Evan got a S&W 59 pistol and a Recon-1 knife.

Leo got a SR9T sniper rifle.

Undine got a Scottish-style claymore two-handed sword.

Senna got a Germanic-style light halberd with a prominent lower spike.

Thad got a Winchester 1897 "trench broom" shotgun.

Donner got a double-bladed poleaxe with a spearhead at the rear tip.

Florence got a P226 pistol.

"These weapons are manifested from this room. They will only appear during the unknown hour, and you will always be skilled with them, regardless if you were unskilled beforehand." said Igor.

"Before we leave, I think we should decide on a name for our group." said Thad. "There's enough of us now that we should have a name for ourselves."

"I propose something ending with society." said Igor.

"I really can't think of a prefix." said Evan.

"Same here." stated Undine.

"Oh, I know." said Florence, "All our personae are named after demons or in my case, a false prophet. Because we derive our power from what Christianity believes to be evil, we ought to name ourselves after what some fundamentalist Christians think is the ultimate sin, which, if I remember correctly, was idolatry."

"The...Idolater's Society...I like that!" said Leo.

"Same here." said Undine and Evan.

"We don't see why not." said Thad and Senna.

"Well, Idolater's society it is then." said Donner.

"Well, it appears our time is up." said Igor, "Farewell."

Newly renamed the Idolater's society, the persona-summoners now have added a new member to their ranks, and still search for the meaning behind the unknown hour. But, evil forces loom on the horizon, forces bent on punishing humanity for it's "Innocent sin".

* * *

><p>AN: Yeah... I know it was short. but it introduced the velvet room, which is going to be very necessary from this point on.

also, the next chapter is going to focus more on character interaction and the social links Igor mentioned. It won't have any action at all.

As always, don't forget to rate, review, and comment!


	3. The bonds of the people

Sorry about the long wait. I got sidetracked on_ Waaaay _to many things during the entire month (Yeah, no excuse). I... promised _some _interaction during this chapter, but I wasn't able to really flesh out the character personalities that well. Ah well, there's always next chapter.

* * *

><p>26/09, 8:20 AM, Cooper square

Evan calmly walked through the halls when an older student came up to him and asked "Hey, is it true? You and the new girl?"

"Uhhh….She's probably with Undine."

"Ugghhh! Why are all the cute girls not interested in men?" said the older boy.

"You've had a problem with that?" asked Evan

"Yeah, my first love that I knew in middle school for four years, _four years,_ turned out to be lesbian." Said the older student.

"Ouch." Said Evan, wincing.

The older boy was walking faster, as he had to get to class, saying "Yeah. But it was just puppy love, and y'know, gay puppy love is kinda rare."

"I suppose." Replied Evan.

"Yeah. By the way, I'm Reid. Nice to meet you!" said the boy

"You too. I'm Evan."

"Bye!" said Reid as he ran off to class.

"Bye!" Evan replied.

At the moment that Evan waved goodbye to Reid and was about to walk off, his mind was transported to the velvet room.

"Look at the monitor to find the parameters of this social link." Stated Igor, before Evan could say a word.

Looking at one of the four main monitors, Evan saw the type of link, revealing Reid to be his justice arcana link. He also saw the specifications of several personae he could summon from the link. They were:

Nemhain: Justice Lv. 8

Type: Force

Subtype: blast

Skills:

Zan

Mazan

Toxic sting

Heavenly cyclone

Rakunda

Sukukaja

Triglav: Justice Lv. 14

Type: dark

Subtype: normal

Skills:

Eiha

Hama

Earthly vortex

Zionga

Tarukaja

Makakaja

Kresnik: Justice Lv. 22

Type: light

Subtype: death

Skills:

Mudola

Baikouha

Fatal end

Talthum shot

Magryva

Gryva

Tarunda

Cu Chulainn: Justice Lv. 32

Type: normal

Subtype: wind

Skills:

Zandyne

Garudyne

Floral gust

Vile assault

Mighty swing

Macha: Justice Lv. 46

Type: element

Subtype: blast

Zandyne

Mazandyne

Stun needle

Sukukaja

Tarukaja

Rakunda

Makanda

After looking at the terminal, Evan determined that he was probably going to awaken Nemhain first.

"Yes. The lowest level personae are always the first to be summoned." Said Igor, confirming Evan's suspicions.

"Will I need a totem?" asked Evan, recalling what Igor said about the process of summoning a persona.

"Not for the first few, as it would be inconvenient to constantly have to ask for something from that person without revealing the existence of the unknown hour or the velvet room. The first few will awaken on their own; Totems are only needed for the stronger personae." Answered Igor.

"I see. I kind of need to get back to school, so can I go back?" said Evan.

"Time in your world stands still when you are in this space. Farewell." Said Igor as he sent Evan's mind back.

* * *

><p>11:40 AM:<p>

Undine met Florence as they walked to class. Moving closer to her, Florence asked if she could hold Undine's hand. Undine replied in the affirmative, smiling at Florence when she took her hand.

"I consider you one of my closest friends, even though we've only known each other for a few days." Said Undine, grinning from ear to ear.

"Me too." Said Florence, smiling back.

At that instant, the two summoners had their minds transported to the velvet room.

"It makes sense we would link with each other…" said Undine, looking at Florence, "I mean , you... I..." she stammered.

Florence blushed and giggled, " Am I your best friend?" she asked.

"What, uh, arcana does she represent for me?" asked Undine, changing the subject. She still holding Florence's hand, and she was leaning on Undine's shoulder. Florence was smiling happily at Undine

"Look at the monitors." Said Igor, pointing at the terminals in front of them.

Undine and Florence released their hands and looked at each terminal. The terminals showed that Florence was Undine's Moon link, and showed the personae parameters of:

Pairika: Moon Lv. 13

Type: dark

Subtype: nerve

Skills:

Makajam

Pulinpa

Eiha

Infinite spiral

Slumpa

Tarunda

Lillim: Moon Lv. 21

Type: dark

Subtype: occult

Skills:

Mudola

Toxic sting

Stun needle

Magaru

Doroid

Wolvaan

Rakunda

Wild hunt: Moon Lv. 39

Type: dark

Subtype: curse

Skills:

Mudola

Mamudola

Baeiha

Mador

Mabufu

Dragon whirl

Queen Mab: Moon Lv. 46

Type: element

Subtype: death

Skills:

Garudyne

Maeiha

Doroid

Tarukaja

Mudoon

Balzac

Makanda

Maya: Moon Lv. 57

Type: dark

Subtype: nerve

Skills:

Agidyne

Pulinpa

Posumundi

Diarahan

Mediarahan

Mamudoon

Maeiha

"Wow, Maya looks powerful, and promising…." Said Undine, "And she'll be mine, no thanks to you." Smiling at Florence.

"Wow, Thanks." Said Florence, looking at Undine, "Turns out you're my empress link."

Just before, Florence had read the parameters of the following personae from her terminal:

Mokosh: Empress Lv. 6

Type: force

Subtype: ice

Skills:

Bufu

Tarukaja

Tarunda

Dekaja

Dekunda

Leanan Sidhe: Empress Lv. 14

Type: dark

Subtype: nerve

Skills:

Hama

Doronpa

Doroid

Eiha

Mudo

Arianrhod: Empress Lv. 28

Type: element

Subtype: normal

Skills:

Magnara

Burning spear

Torrent shot

Tarukaja

Rakunda

Mamagna

Hariti: Empress Lv. 34

Type: force

Subtype: blast

Skills:

Mazandyne

Sonic bullet

Vile assault

Mighty swing

Shibaboo

Pulinpa

Titania: Empress Lv. 40

Type: force

Subtype: earth

Skills:

Magarudyne

Grydyne

Diarahan

Mediarahan

Me Patra

Tarunda

Afterwards, Florence continued to smile at her friend, and then reached out to hug Undine.

"Heh…Heh… I like you too, Florence." Said Undine, hugging an enthusiastic Florence back.

"You to seem to get along very well…" said Igor, "It's time you returned to your world."

"Bye!" Undine and Florence said as their minds were sent back to earth.

* * *

><p>1:09 PM:<p>

Senna walked up to the lunchroom, got a ham-and-cheese sandwich bag, and found a seat next to Donner.

"Hey!" said Senna, clearly trying to start a conversation.

"hmpf." Donner just grunted, not interested.

"Ughh! Why do you always have to be the loner?!" Senna asked, disgruntled.

"It's just who I am. I've had a rough life." Donner answered.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Look, I was just trying to start a conversation. That isn't too difficult for you, right?" said Senna, miffed.

"Fine. What do you want to talk about?" asked Donner impassively.

"Well…." Said Senna, now in a much happier mood, "Let's start with why you wanted to separate with us. It's obviously easier to survive in groups during the unknown hour, so what's the point of being alone?"

"I just didn't want to be part of this anymore because we don't know what happens when we die, so if I died, my mom would just snap completely. I mean, ever since my dad got arrested, she's been a wreck. Obviously, I got dragged right back into all this crap literally a day after I tried to escape it, so yeah, I screwed up."

"You didn't screw up! At least, not the way I see it." Said Senna, "I mean, I understand your fear, but we have a job to do. Really, we should at least stick together anytime the unknown hour occurs. And it would be really beneficial to us if you at least got along with someone other than Thad."

"Well…" Donner muttered, "I do consider you to be like a sister, or at least I used to." Saying the last part louder.

"Wha- I….. Okay, why didn't you tell me this earlier?!" Senna started blushing and her speech became defensive.

"Because I was afraid you'd take it the wrong way, which you just did."

"I-….. Ugh, God damn it…" Senna's voice trailed off into undecipherable muttering when….

Blue mist flooded her vision, and when it disappeared, she was in the velvet room. "Okay….. What am I doing here?" she asked.

One of the terminals beeped, and Senna looked at it, showing that Donner was her Hierophant social link. "Why him, of all people?" she wondered aloud.

"It's because he considers you to be like a sister to him." Responded Igor, looming down from one of the outer screens.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard that before." Senna said, somewhat annoyed.

"And you took it the wrong way. Again" Senna turned around to see Donner behind her, with his consistent deadpan expression.

Donner walked up to one of the terminals; something had clearly caught his eye. Once he reached it, the screen showed Senna to be his star arcana link. The persona parameters were displayed thusly:

Kinnara: Star Lv. 7

Type: light

Subtype: bless

Skills:

Hama

Kouha

Tarukaja

Agi

Maragi

Kaiwan: Star Lv. 18

Type: dark

Subtype: expel

Skills:

Eiha

Kouha

Magry

Rakunda

Tarunda

Makakaja

Kartikeya: star Lv. 25

Type: element

Subtype: miracle

Skills:

Rainbow strike

Kouha

Hanma

Mahanma

Heavenly cyclone

Dragon whirl

Ihika: Star Lv. 33

Type: light

Subtype: ice

Skills:

Hanma

Bufula

Spin kick

Feral claw

Tarunda

Makanda

Vidofnir: Star Lv. 45

Type: light

Subtype: wind

Skills:

Baikouha

Hamaon

Spike claw

Garudyne

Magarudyne

Ripper claw

Tetrakarn

Yatagarasu: Star Lv. 51

Type: dark

Subtype: blast

Skills:

Eternal black

Zandyne

Eternal white

Ripper claw

Stun bite

Makakaja

Tarunda

Sukukaja

Noticing Donner looking at the computer, Senna looked at the one in front of her, observing the parameters of the following personae:

Gandharva: Hierophant Lv. 11

Type: element

Subtype: electric

Skills:

Zio

Stun needle

Single shot

Drive shot

Tarunda

Vodyanik: Hierophant Lv. 16

Type: force

Subtype: Ice

Skills:

Mabufu

Drive shot

Dream needle

Bouncing claw

Double rake

Makakaja

Hakoah: Hierophant Lv. 28

Type: element

Subtype: electricity

Skills:

Mazio

Zionga

Tarunda

Dekaja

Garu

Stun bite

Tam Lin: Hierophant Lv. 37

Type: force

Subtype: blast

Skills:

Zanma

Mazanma

Hanma

Dragon whirl

Multislash

Tarukaja

Dekunda

Isora: Hierophant Lv. 41

Type: light

Subtype: ice

Skills:

Bufudyne

Baikouha

Baeiha

Stun bite

Virus bite

Dekunda

Dekaja

"What do you think? I'm at least happy that you calmed down." Said Donner, looking in Senna's direction.

"Well, I suppose if I'm like a sister to you, you're like a brother to me." said Senna, smiling at the last part.

"Good to see you consider each other close friends…" said Igor, "It's time you returned. Farewell." Said the long-nosed dwarf, sending the minds of the two summoners back to earth.

* * *

><p>2:10 PM:<p>

Evan was walking to his final period when he heard Leo call his name.

"Hey Leo!" he said, before Leo touched the sides of his arms. Evan smiled at his friend.

"Wanna hug?" asked Leo, smiling back.

"When school ends. Sound good?" Evan replied.

The two friends began to make small talk when blue mist began to flood his vision and he was sent to the velvet room again, still holding Leo's hand. Leo was there too, and he immediately assumed that he had started a social link with Evan. Evan confirmed Leo's suspicions.

Looking at the terminals, Leo and Evan Found that they were each other's respective magician and death links.

"That's weird, Leo doesn't seem to be gloomy." Evan thought out loud when Igor turned on one of the outer screens and said:

"Despite modern popular culture using that arcana to represent literal death or some sort of dark, negative consequence or event, the original decks used them to represent some form of deep, meaningful resolution or change."

"Well, he is helping me be friendlier…." Evan said, "I used to be such a major loner, but now I have someone that I care about, maybe… love… even." He blushed when he said the last part.

"Aww, you like me that much?" said Leo, walking over to Evan. Evan turned around, and Leo threw his arms around his best friend's shoulders. Evan hugged his friend back, somewhat sheepishly.

"Yeah, I do." Said Evan, "We have such a tight bond, even though we've only known each other for a few days." Evan loosened his guard, and felt himself tire and relax into his friend's embrace, feeling bliss wash over him, smiling from ear to ear, "I like you, I truly do, best friend."

"Me too." Leo said.

"Um… Pardon me, but would you like to view the personae available?" asked Igor.

"Oh." Said Evan. He gently released himself from Leo's grip and stepped over to the beeping computer monitor, viewing the parameters of the following personae:

Ixtab: Death Lv. 23

Type: dark

Subtype: death

Skills:

Mudola

Mamudo

Bufula

Nervma

Poisma

Tarunda

Hel: Death Lv. 37

Type: dark

Subtype: ice

Skills:

Mudoon

Mamudola

Makajam

Bufula

Mabufudyne

Rakunda

Makakaja

Persephone: Death Lv.42

Type: dark

Subtype: electric

Skills:

Ziodyne

Mazionga

Mamudoon

Eternal black

Decover

Pulinpa

Candy voice

Maziodyne

Pales: Death Lv. 55

Type: dark

Subtype: curse

Skills:

Trisagion

Dark verdict

Mamudoon

Maragidyne

Desanga

Quikka

Mot: Death Lv. 61

Type: dark

Subtype: death

Skills:

Mamudoon

Mador

Diarahan

Mudoon

Dark verdict

Megidola

Garudyne

Acid breath

Thanatos: Death Lv.75

Type: dark

Subtype: death

Skills:

Deathbound

Mudoon

Dark verdict

Eternal black

Hell eyes

Desanga

Vorpal blade

Mamudoon

Maeiha

"What arcana are you to me?" asked Leo to Evan when he was done reading the information off his terminal.

"Evan represents the Magician to you, Leo." Said Igor.

"It does make sense, I guess…" said Leo, "the magician arcana represents ambition. My ambition was to have a friend that wasn't just an admirer."

Leo walked to one of the terminals and viewed the parameters of the following magician personae:

Iktomi: Magician Lv. 10

Type: dark

Subtype: nerve

Skills:

Eiha

Bufu

Paral eyes

Spike claw

Needle rush

Turdak: Magician Lv. 22

Type: normal

Subtype: fire

Skills:

Agilao

Multislash

Power slash

Baeiha

Tarukaja

Tarunda

Shiki-Ouji: Magician Lv. 33

Type: light

Subtype: curse

Skills:

Mahanma

Mamudola

Spike claw

Feral claw

Spin kick

Zionga

Yaska: Magician Lv. 43

Type: light

Subtype: expel

Skills:

Tarunda

Bright judgment

Mahanma

Hamaon

Triple slice

Mighty swing

Eternal white

Tezcatlipoca: Magician Lv. 55

Type: dark

Subtype: earth

Skills:

Dark verdict

Mamagdyne

Magdyne

Trisagion

Mudoon

Stun needle

Nervma

Nihil bite

"Wow, Tezcatlipoca. That's the first Aztec sun god, before Quetzalcoatl." Leo muttered.

"You seem to know a lot about these Aztec myths." Evan said.

"Not just Aztec. I know a lot about many other mythologies as well." Leo responded.

"Well, you're certainly one of the most intelligent people I've met." Said Evan, looking at Leo.

"Thanks!" said Leo, closing his eyes and smiling at his friend.

"It appears our time is up. Farewell." Said Igor.

"See ya!" said Evan and Leo, returning to earth.

* * *

><p>3:40 PM:<p>

Thad met up with his best friend after school. Donner was hanging out near the school entrance, waiting for his friend.

"Hey D!" said Thad, looking at Donner.

"Hey!" said Donner somewhat sheepishly.

"I started a social link with Senna…." Said Donner, "We kind of made up, you know, she was always yelling at me before I left…" his voice trailed off when he found Thad looking at him in a jealous yet somewhat silly way.

"Heh. I know you're the one that actually likes her that way." Donner said, blushing.

"It's fine…." Said Thad, "She probably has a reason for having that link with you."

"Yeah, I know, but you match her better, I was just more of a close friend to her."

"I thought so." Said Thad, when….

The same blue mist that Senna and the others experienced had clouded Thad's vision, and when it cleared, he found himself in the velvet room.

"It kinda does make sense that we'd link." Said Thad, looking at Donner.

"Yeah, Evan told me he had two links, so maybe you can still have one with Senna." Replied Donner.

Looking at the computer terminals, Donner found that Thad represented the devil arcana, and he read the parameters of the following personae:

Orcus: Devil Lv. 14

Type: dark

Subtype: gravity

Skills:

Gry

Western blow

Mudo

Rakukaja

Tarunda

Media

Axel bite

Ashtarot: Devil Lv. 24

Type: element

Subtype: occult

Skills:

Double thrust

Virus bite

Mador

Agilao

Maragion

Power slash

Quikka

Balor: devil Lv. 31

Type: dark

Subtype: fire

Skills:

Agilao

Titanomanchia

Sonic punch

Tarukaja

Sukunda

Baeiha

Azazel: devil Lv. 45

Type: dark

Subtype: fire

Skills:

Agidyne

Maragion

Mighty swing

Freila

Maeiha

Mudoon

Tarunda

Makakaja

Dantalion: Devil Lv. 58

Type: dark

Subtype: blast

Skills:

Occult flash

Grand tack

Mazanma

Zandyne

Megido

Tarunda

Paral eyes

Sukukaja

Maeiha

"You always want to be in control, don't you." Said Donner.

"Indeed, Thad's arcana fits him well." Said Igor, after he turned on the outer screen.

"Heh, our personae represent ourselves, so I guess that does make sense." Said Thad.

Thad headed for a terminal and found that Donner was his link to the strength arcana. As always, he couldn't help but read the persona statistics:

Phunbaba: strength Lv. 20

Type: normal

Subtype: Ice

Skills:

Water wall

Bufula

Mabufu

Gentle wave

Wing flap

Makajam

Apophis: Strength lv. 37

Type: dark

Subtype: gravity

Skills:

Gryva

Mamudo

Mudola

Spike claw

Ripper claw

Axel bite

Virus bite

Python: strength lv. 44

Type: element

Subtype: wind

Skills:

Garudyne

Mudoon

Sukukaja

Megaton raid

Omega slash

Tarunda

Delyte

Culebre: Strength Lv. 52

Type: element

Subtype: blast

Skills:

Magarudyne

Mazandyne

Garudyne

Zandyne

Feral bite

Nihil bite

Axel claw

"Wow. Dragons, huh…." Said Thad, "They all look pretty powerful."

"Yeah." Said Donner, somewhat lost in his own thoughts.

"Would you like to return?" asked Igor

"Sure." Replied the two summoners.

* * *

><p>7:10 PM:<p>

"I have an important message…" sad Philemon mentally to the group of persona-users, "It appears that extremely powerful shadows appear every new moon. Each one of these "Incarna" shadows represents a certain tarot arcana. These shadows contain an energy signature similar to the flood of energy that marks the coming of the unknown hour, implying that they may be related to whatever is causing it. The next new moon occurs at the end of this month, so prepare. Good luck."

Deriving power from the bonds they have forged, the Idolater's society has discovered an important clue to the mystery of the unknown hour. But this discovery may come with a price, as they could invariably discover the ugly truth behind the past of one of their members, a truth that could condemn all of humanity to eternal suffering.

* * *

><p>Yeah... I know, I know, this was not the time, nor the place for persona introductions, but I couldn't help myself. Sorry.<p>

For those of you who wanted more interaction out of the social links, I have another chapter all lined up. That should sate your appetites.


	4. Are the true power

Yes, this was the chapter with the interaction you (and I) wanted! It's got everything from plot advancement to character flesh-outage to some absolutely kickass action!

Note: I did not have the patience to wait for my beta reader to finish his midterms, so please, concrit _seriously_ appreciated (and potentially Necessary).

Warning: This chapter contains examples of extreme religious bigotry by an antagonist. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

* * *

><p>27/09, Broadway Street, 6:00 AM:

"Uhhhh..." Undine was laying in bed and moaning due to the rough sleep she had last night as a result of Sylph staging a girl's night out with her friends yesterday, "Damn it, she was so fucking loud. I swear, sometimes I wish...no, why would I want that? She's my sister, I love her." she muttered, "Or at least, I'm supposed to."

She got dressed into the gray, red and yellow RPHS school uniform, and walked out into the living room of her apartment, looking out at the still-mostly-dark cityscape. "Wow, this city really does never sleep." Undine dully muttered to herself; the lights were on even this early in the morning. She turned around to Sylph's room, and found her hugging her best friend Mira in her sleep.

"Mmmmnnn..." Sylph had just woken up and was nuzzling her friend, which woke Mira, "I thought you didn't want to share a bed with me in case I bled..." Sylph said softly, smiling at Mira, who smiled back, "You're like the twin sister I never had..." Said Mira, drearily caressing Sylph's cheek, "I love you just like one."

"Aww... I love you too Mira." Sylph hugged Mira even tighter and softly kissed her on the forehead.

"Man, I wish I could have a friend like yours." said Undine, looking over the two.

"Sister?" Sylph sheepishly asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I just got up. I don't know why." Responded Undine.

Sylph looked back at Mira, nuzzled her, and said "It's early, we should get some more sleep."

"I agree." said Mira, before nuzzling her friend back.

"Undine, can you leave us be?" asked Sylph.

"Okay" said Undine, walking out of the room, closing the door behind her, and returned to her room. Why do I wish _that_ would have happened, she thought, I mean, despite how much _they_ spoiled her or how annoying she was, I still love her.

Despite her tomboyish looks and character, Undine isn't as strong as her admirers think she is. Take for example, her relationship with her parents. She never really liked having them around and preferred to be alone, due to the fact that she, at least, felt they cared more about Sylph than they did about her.

She sighed. "I've always had to put up with the bad shit in my life..." Undine whispered to herself, "Unless Sylph's not telling me something. Could they have? No, who would be that harsh on their daughter if she was suffering from a disease _that_ _bad_? I suppose she was born lucky. I'm lucky to be born."

"They only cared about her. Why should I care about them? After all they did, why should I even look at them?" She muttered, "Stupid fucking heart disorder drove my parents mad and made me stop caring about my own sister! Granted, I was 10 at the time, but still, even after that, they couldn't stand me! I actually spent one year, one fucking year, wishing that she died so my parents would stop yelling at me or neglecting me or just favoring her!" She sighed. "Why should I be dredging up painful memories now? There's never a good time to do that."

"Well, best think of the times before that..."Undine looked back at her sister's room, before closing the door to her own room, "Even if they were short. Besides, she even blamed herself for what my parents did after she found out."

Undine turned to the clock, which was ringing with her new bell, which went something along the lines of someone squealing "IRYUKA, IRYUKA, DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHASHUKE DID-?!" in an extremely high-pitched voice, before she turned it off, giggling, as she always found that particular sentence to be funny. She gathered her supplies from her desk and wrote a note for her parents that she was going for a walk before she went to school.

"Ahhh...I can't wait to see Florence. She's _so_ sweet!" Undine said as she walked out of the door into the sunlight, smiling. She thought about inviting her best friend over after school today.

* * *

><p>6:40 AM, Lafayette street:<p>

Leo hummed the battle theme from soul hackers as he walked out of the shower and got dressed into the boy's uniform. Just after he put on his shirt, he got a phone call from Evan.

"Leo, uhh, can I go out with you tonight? I mean do you have plans for anything?"

"Not really. My parents are chasing a string murderer, so they won't be happy with it, but I can go out with you." said Leo

"Thanks!" replied Evan.

"Catch you later, BF!" said Leo, hanging up.

Ahhh...I can't wait to go to school! Thought Leo, smiling from ear to ear. I really can't wait to get closer to him, I really can't!

Preparing his supplies, Leo couldn't help but dwell on those last words from his phone conversation. BF...

He thought back to what life was like with his old best friend Lars. "I hate thinking about him. I mean, we loved each other, but every time I remember him, it makes me want to cry." He muttered.

The sun shone brightly into the room, and when it hit Leo's face, he smiled and looked up, "Well, I've moved on, and I have a new friend who loves me, I think."

He walked out of his apartment building into the sunlight, eager to meet Evan again.

* * *

><p>6:40 AM, Astor PL. :<p>

After calling Leo, Evan thought about the nightmare he had involving the members of the cult. "Every time I have a nightmare, it always ends up recurring. I seriously do not want this one to." he muttered.

Pushing the combination nightmare/possible repressed memory out of his head, Evan got his supplies ready and took the elevator down to the school after reading the newspaper.

When he got down, he waited at the entrance for Leo, and walked up to him, at which point Leo noticed, and they hugged.

Releasing, they walked into the actual school itself and found Undine.

"Hi, Undine!" said Leo, smiling at her.

"Boy, you're in a happy mood." she responded.

"What's the problem?" asked Evan.

"Oh, my sister threw a really loud sleepover last night. I didn't sleep very well" stated Undine.

"Oh." said the other two boys

"You don't seem like you slept very well last night either, Evan" said Undine, putting her hand on Evan's shoulder with concern.

"I had a nightmare. It's not something I want to talk about. It had me waking up several times last night." Evan answered glumly.

"Aww, cheer up!" Said Leo, smiling at his friend and stroking his flank, "I just couldn't wait to see you!"

Evan smiled back, "Heh, I know." ruffling Leo's hair.

The three had already walked to the entrance of the classroom, and took their seats.

* * *

><p>7:00 AM, E8th street:<p>

Conveniently, Thad, Senna, and Donner all lived in the same apartment complex, and Thad and Senna happened to be on the same floor.

Thad and Senna walked out of their houses and took one of many elevators down to the first floor. On the second, they were joined by Donner.

The three made small talk about their lives outside the unknown hour after getting out of the elevator and onto the sidewalk, "What college do you plan to go to?" Senna asked Donner.

"I haven't really decided yet. After all I might not end up in one of the better ones, you know, cause the student loans are just going to hell."

"I've heard..." said Thad, "I seriously don't hope west point has exuberant loans-"

"West point?" Senna interjected, surprised, "You didn't tell me you're joining the army?!"

"Heh, don't worry, I'm going to be a helicopter pilot, hopefully for an Apache or Strike Blackhawk-"

"That's still dangerous!" yelled Senna, "I mean, what happens if you get shot down...I..." Her voice trailed off.

Donner started laughing.

"Wha-? D, you idiot." Said Senna, blushing.

"Hahaha, come on Senna..." Said Thad, "I mean, seriously, we're nowhere near marrying!"

"Thad!" stated Senna, embarrassed. The boys jokes were definitely not helping.

The two boys stopped laughing when they noticed they had embarrassed Thad's possible girlfriend.

By the time that had happened, They were already at school. "See you, D!" said Senna as she and Thad walked off to their class (Which was separate from Donner's).

* * *

><p>12:00 PM, Cooper Square :<p>

At lunchtime, Evan found Reid and decided to sit across from him and talk to him.

"So, what are your interests?" Asked Reid.

"Sports mostly. And I like watching TV." Replied Evan.

"I like sports too." said Reid, "What TV shows do you like?'

Evan's voice dropped to a whisper, "Uhh... Featherman is _one_ of my favorites, but not-"

"You don't have to whisper..." said Reid, "Even adults like that. So, go on."

"Well, I'm also into some anime, like Virtual monsters. I really want to see that new devil survivor one too."

"Sorry, never heard of those." Said Reid.

"I watched the first one with subtitles _before_ it was dubbed into English..." said Evan, "They're kind of obscure unless you're in that kind of community."

"Oh." replied Reid.

"What kind of sports do you play?" asked Evan to Reid.

"I'm kind of a baseball guy. I'm the batter." He replied

"Oh. I'm pretty good at soccer." Answered Evan.

"Ah. Well, it looks like lunch is over. See ya!" said Reid, getting up and throwing away his lunch bag.

"Bye!" replied Evan, walking out of the classroom they were eating in.

* * *

><p>3:20 PM:<p>

"Hey, Leo!" Called Evan as he ran up to his friend.

"Hi!" Leo answered, only to be pulled into a surprise hug by Evan.

"Heh... So, where do you want to go?" Asked Leo, releasing himself from Evan's grasp

"Uhh... do you know of any arcades around here?" asked Evan

"Well, there is one on Mercer. We'll have to take a bus." Answered Leo.

"Well then, let's go." Said Evan, looping his arm around Leo's shoulder and walking off with him.

* * *

><p>3:25 PM:<p>

"Uhh... Florence?" asked Undine, walking up to the slimmer girl.

"Hey!" Florence said, reaching out to hug her friend. Undine was surprised and blushed, but she closed her eyes, smiled sheepishly, and hugged Florence back.

"Yeah...uhh.. want to come over?" asked Undine, releasing herself from Florence, "My house is on Broadway."

"Ohhh! My house is on Broadway too!" replied Florence, "And this'll be my first sleepover! Or wait, is it going to be a sleepover?"

"It is." Replied Undine.

"Yay!" said Florence. "I'm sooooo going to have the best sleepover ever!"

Undine smiled. Even though she wouldn't admit it, she could feel twinges of love between her and Florence.

* * *

><p>5:00 PM:<p>

"Wow. That was really fun. I mean, seriously, I've never played House of the Undead or Chrono crisis before!" Evan looked at Leo, "But the best part was spending all that time with you."

"Aww, you're so sweet!" Leo replied, smiling.

"Hehe." Evan blushed, "Leo, well, we need to talk. In private."

"My house sound good?" He replied.

"Yeah." Evan sort of sulked.

* * *

><p>By the time they reached Leo's house, it was 6:20 (Leo had run out of money on his bus pass, so they walked).<p>

"Can you sit next to me? I want to feel your touch." Said Evan, Sitting on Leo's bed. He and Leo had taken off their yellow and red vests and just sat in their black pants and gray shirts

"Oh, okay." said Leo, holding Evan's hands. Evan scooted up next to him. "It's about the nightmare, right?" asked Leo.

"Yeah, I can't seem to get it out of my head, and in retrospect, it's worse." said Evan, frightened. He put his hand on the side of Leo's belly and looked him in the eye.

"I...I... want to sleep next to you, because I don't want it to recur. I think the nightmare may be a repressed memory of some sort, because it was pretty realistic and it involved some cult members from what I know was my childhood." Evan's voice started to crack

"You know..."Leo's voice was full of worry. "The best way to get rid of these problems is to talk about them. Am I close enough to you to open up to me?"

"I don't see much choice." Replied Evan.

Leo put his hand on Evan's chest and found his nipple, thumbing it from over his shirt.

"Evan..."Leo said, his eyes started to gleam, "Even though I've just met you, I'll be here for you. I just hate seeing the people I care about in pain."

"Leo..." Evan had started to tear up too, "I...I... I saw Clary, and some other kid who looks just like me, and..."

"Slow down." said Leo, hugging his friend, "By Clary, you mean Clary Reynolds, right? That pop Idol?"

"Yeah, that Clary. She just acts like the cult never existed, but she was a proud member." Said Evan, crying under the strain. "She likes to donate money to charities run by known Christofacist interest groups, now that she has that much. I mean, she sang on "Charity" concerts for those idiots from Battle cry."

"Was the cult fundamentalist?" asked Leo

"Christian end times batshit combined with Mormon dehumanization doctrines, so yeah, it was fundamentalist."

"Oh." Said Leo, "What made them so bad?"

"They abused us when we were kids. At least, the ones that broke the rules." said Evan

"Like, sexually?" asked Leo, with a mixture of horror and disgust.

"No, they didn't want to get caught for anything illegal until they thought it was safe. All the abuse was either physical or mostly emotional."

"They lured people into joining then then forced the ones that had broken cult rules into what was effectively Imprisonment, like me. Anyone who tried to escape, Women who tried to resist their arranged marriages, kids who questioned doctrine, if you threatened the leader's power, you would suffer for the rest of your life."

"Dear god..." Leo couldn't hold back that he was crying too, "W...W-Where you born into the cult?"

"I think my parents joined when I was 3. I can't remember anything from before I was 10 clearly. There are these gaps..." said Evan, crying into Leo's chest.

"Uhh...Mind if I take off my shirt? I'm going to wear this tomorrow, I don't want it wet." Said Leo.

"Okay." said Evan

As soon as Leo lifted his shirt over his head, he could see Evan doing the same. "You want a shirtless hug?" asked Leo.

"I though you were going to cry into me, so I thought..." Evan's voice trailed off. "You've had those before, right?"

"Yeah, with my old friend and my cousin. They're really soothing, so?"

"Go for it." said Evan.

Leo wrapped his arms around his friend's bare top, feeling his chest against Evan's own. The touch of bare skin was so comfortable, so cool. Leo adjusted himself so his belly would have more coverage over Evan's, then noticed that in his bliss, he started to remember Lars, and then, the accident.

He felt Evan cry softly into his shoulder, but Leo couldn't stop himself from remembering Lars after he had bee hit, his lifeless body, how he wouldn't wake up even after Leo promised so many things that he liked.

"Lars, I'm so sorry, I can't move on, I just can't!" Leo whispered, then sobbed.

"What, Leo? I hate seeing you cry too." Said Evan.

"My old friend that I mentioned died. It's my fault he's gone. It's my fault his parents hate each other now. It's my fault his sister killed herself. It-"

"Stop." said Evan, reeling his head backwards and looking Leo in the eye. "Moping about stuff that already happened isn't healthy. You should move on. You've got me."

"Yeah, I suppose." said Leo, touching Evan's chest and tweaking his nipple with his index finger.

"Look Leo, I like you, you're the first person I can call a friend." said Evan. "We're already having hugs."

Evan rubbed noses with Leo and hugged him. "Your chest feels so cool." Said Leo, holding the other 15-year-old tightly.

"Let's sleep like this."

"Agreed."

Turning off the lights, the two boys went under the covers and resumed hugging. No matter how sad or upset they were, the feel of each other's bared tops lulled them to sleep.

* * *

><p>4:00 PM:<p>

"Annnnd...This is my house!" Said Undine cheerfully as she led Florence into her home.

Florence smiled, "It's great!"

"Oh. I want you to meet my little sister. Sylph!" Undine said, calling to Sylph.

"Coming sister!" replied a voice originating in the room to the right of the common area.

"Hi Undine!" Sylph came out and ran up to hug her sister. After releasing, she noticed Florence smiling at the two of them.

"You must be Undine's new friend. You're all she talks about." Said Sylph.

"Heh. I know." Responded Florence.

Undine, Florence, and Sylph walked out to the living room, looking out the window. "Wait until it's nighttime. Then the city really comes alive!" Said Sylph excitedly.

"Wow, you're much higher up than my home is!"" Said Florence.

"Uh, sister, since our parents are away, they left some eggs and bread. Who's going to cook tonight?" asked Sylph.

"I will." Said Florence.

"You know how to cook?" asked a puzzled Undine.

"I have since I was 10!" Said Florence.

"Well, let's see what you can do!" Said an excited Sylph.

The three immediately began to get started cooking dinner. Florence scrambled a few eggs, Sylph chopped some vegetables, and Undine got some cheese ready and started the oven.

A few minuets later...

"Well, this is the best scrambled-egg sandwich I've had in years!" Undine said, digging in eagerly.

"Tell me about it!" Said Sylph, smiling in between mouthfuls of said sandwich.

"Thanks!" said Florence happily.

After they ate, the three girls decided to watch some TV.

"Oh! Oh! Channel 122 has CSU on now!" Said Sylph.

"Do you like that, Florence?" asked Undine.

"Uhhh...it's a little gory-"

"Aww, come on!" Complained Sylph.

"No, Sylph. I've drilled this a thousand times-"

"It's fine." Said Florence.

"Yay!" went Sylph, "I hope they continue the one about the rapist who cuts the balls off pedophiles!"

Florence immediately went from a neutral expression to a delicate shade of green.

"Sorry." Said Undine, holding her friend by the shoulder, "Let's go to my room. You can play some computer games."

After entering Undine's room, the two older girls turned on her computer, "What game looks good to you?" she asked Florence.

"This one." said Florence, holding up the case of RazeRed: continuum switch.

"Oh, that one. You like fighting games?" asked Undine.

"RazeRed mostly, but I've played Emperor of warriors too. Just not Immortel combat."

"You kidding, I love that! And so does Sylph." said Undine

"That one's so gory. I mean it just gets so sick sometimes." said Florence

"Oh." Said Undine, loading the RazeRed disk.

"We'll take turns. You want to go first?" asked Undine to Florence.

Florence nodded. She sat down and chose Angra as her character. That night was the scene of so many epic battles...

8:20 PM:

"Undine, we're home!" Said Undine's mother. "I got your call. Florence, Was it?"

"Oh! Hey Florence?" Undine's head perked up.

"Yeah?" said Florence, pausing the game.

"My parents are home. Want to meet them?"

"Sure!" said Florence.

Undine and Florence walked out of her room to meet Undine's parents.

"Hi Mister and Mrs. ….."

"Thomson." Said Undine, looping her arm around Florence's shoulder.

"Oh, Hi!" Said Florence, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hehe...good to see you're making friends, Undine." said her father, a middle-aged man with a much lighter complexion than his daughter.

"Yeah." Undine replied, impassively.

Her father looked down, but his expression changed when he heard his wife say that Die Young was on at 10:30.

Florence yawned, "Wanna sleep?" she asked Undine.

"You read my mind." Said Undine, before yawning.

"Uhhh... Mind me, but is a sleeping bag necessary?" asked Undine.

"Would you mind sharing a bed?" Asked Florence.

"Not really..." said Undine, "I mean, we're friends, and close ones at that. We could share a bed, I suppose."

"Okay!" said Florence.

Undine and Florence walked into Undine's room, "Man, you're eager." Said the darker-skinned girl.

"It's just I want to be closer to you because I like you." Florence giggled.

"Heh...I like you too." said Undine, closing the door.

Florence looked in the closet, "You don't have any sleepwear, do you."

"No, I just sleep in my underwear." said Undine, taking off her shirt.

"I don't see much choice either..."Said Florence, unbuttoning her cardigan, "But I don't really have a problem as long as no-one sees me, but I guess I'll have to make an exception cause it's impossible to sleep in one of these." referring to the school uniform.

By the time the two had undressed, Florence decided to lay in bed while Undine got the lights.

"Hey Undine?" asked Florence as Undine got in bed.

"What is it?" she asked back. Florence held her right hand and pulled her closer.

"Wanna hug?" Florence asked.

"Sure." Said Undine, placing her left hand on Florence's lower back and pulled Florence up to her stomach. Florence eagerly wrapped her arms around Undine's torso.

"Ohhhh... Your belly feels sooooo cool!" said Florence.

Undine blushed, but then snuggled in closer and hugged Florence tightly, letting their bare midriffs touch. The two fell asleep in the comfort of each other's embrace.

* * *

><p>9:00 PM:<p>

Evan Woke up with a yell, in cold sweat.

"Ah! Evan, buddy, what's wrong?" Said Leo, still hugging him tightly.

"Another nightmare." Said Evan dully.

Leo released his grip to allow Evan to adjust himself, and then looked at Evan with worry. "What was this one about?" he asked?

"Clary again. And she was watching me being beaten by the cult leader's wife with some kind of sick glee; she was probably getting off on it, concerning I was naked."

"Oh. Evan, I'm here. You don't have to worry about them anymore, you're in new york, with me." Said Leo, comforting his friend.

"I know, it's just... I can't get over the kid who looks like me. I never recall anything about a twin or body double."

"Don't worry..." Said Leo, digging Evan's navel with his right thumb and touched his face with his left hand, thumbing his cheek, "I like you, I'll be here for you."

Leo lay on top of Evan and hugged him, taking in the feel of his exposed torso.

Evan fell asleep eventually, but literally an hour later...

* * *

><p>HOUR UNKNOWN, E8th street:<p>

Donner shot up from his bed and saw the purple sky and raining shadows from outside his room window. He then got dressed and found his phone, which was ringing. The caller ID revealed someone called "Clary R". Answering it, he got a surprising call.

"Hehe... You picked up." Said a mischievous, playful female voice.

"What do you want?" asked Donner.

"Proof that "he"'s fighting the savior.

"Look, who are you talking about?! If this is a prank call, I fucking swear-"

"Shut it! Unless you want that precious surrogate sister of yours to die permanently, you'll tell me where Evan Ambrose is now!" the voice suddenly switched to a threatening, but still playful tone.

"Senna!" Donner muttered; in his shock, he had forgotten to turn off his phone!

"Awww, you're gonna try to save her? Good luck, man-skank!"

Donner immediately hurried out of his apartment and to Senna's room. Just as Senna got out the door, she saw Donner running towards her.

"Senna! Someone on my phone said we need to find Evan or-"

"Waitwaitwait-...Slow down, "Someone"? I thought only we know about this hour? And why is he-"

"She." Said Donner

"She asking for Evan's whereabouts?"

"I don't know, except for the fact that they threatened to kill you if we don't!"

"Wait, What!?" said Thad, running up from behind them.

"Someone who the ID called "Clary R" said that if we don't give them proof that Evan's with us, she'll kill Senna!" Donner stated hurriedly.

"Whoever she is, she's after Evan. We have to find him!" said Senna. The three were about to head out to the elevator when a rather attractive young woman with a constant smile and in a school uniform came out of said elevator.

"See," She said, "I told you she'd suffer if you didn't tell me."

"You didn't even give us enough-" Said Thad, cut off by the girl.

"It doesn't matter. I, Clary Reynolds, pop idol superstar, will bring justice to our sinful race! Come, Samael!" said the girl in her signature cheerful, mischievous tone as red mist began to form around her.

"Is that a-?!" Said Senna as her opponent's persona manifested out of the mist. Before they could manifest their own, the three members of the idolater's society were thrown backwards by a eternal black cast by the dark persona owned by the mysterious girl.

Senna was hit the hardest because Phenex is weak to darkness, but Eligor and Berith's resistances to said curse attack meant that the damage to them was minimal.

By the time that the three had gotten their composure, Clary was gone.

"Arghhh! That whore! We'll get her next-" Thad turned around, to find...: "Senna!"

She groaned, coughing up blood, and was soaked in her own, laying on the floor. Donner lifted her up and tried to open her eyes, "Senna!? Can you hear me!?" her pupils were dilated, and she was in a daze.

"Where's the nearest hospital?" yelled Thad, obviously worried out of his mind.

"We've got one on Mercer, but the transit's to dangerous!" Said Donner, checking Senna's pulse; when Thad asked, Donner said it was weak.

"We have to call the others!" said Donner, giving Senna to Thad and flipping out his phone. "Undine?! Undine?!"

"Yeah! What?" Said Undine, startled by the urgency in Donner's voice.

"It's Senna. She's been hurt so bad that we need to go to the hospital, but it's too dangerous for the three of us, so can you come?"

"What? Of course I'll come!" Undine said, "Florence?"

"Yeah?" said Florence, having overheard the entire conversation.

"Let's get dressed. We've got to save Senna!" Said Undine.

Undine and Florence dressed into some casual clothes and rushed out the door of their room when they found Sylph in their living room staring at the raining blobs of shadow. They tried to sneak past her, but then she turned around, staring at them with dead eyes. "You're going to do something about the shadows down there, aren't you."

"Uhh...Is your sister usually-" asked Florence

"No. The last to unknown hours she was sound asleep-"

"Why else would you be leaving here? The butterfly told me that you can fight the shadows." Sylph said in a dull, monotone voice.

"What butterfly?" Said Undine

"The one in my dreams. I think you may need to save your friend, so go."

Undine and Florence ran out the door of Undine's apartment and down to the elevator; "What was that?" Undine asked to Florence.

"Don't look at me, I'm not used to my little sister getting possessed."

Undine sulked. "She'll probably loose the creepy girl act when the hour reverses." said Florence, trying to cheer her friend up.

By the time the elevator had reached the first floor, The shadow invasion was in full swing. They could see from the windows a thrnos smashing a SWAT van in half with it's massive sword.

Undine and Florence ran out of the building through the back door and manifested their weapons. Undine had gotten a phone call from Thad just as Florence was using Ishmael's scan ability to find shadows ahead of the alley they were in.

"We're at the E8th/Broadway intersection. Come quick, Senna's pulse is fading!"

"Got it!" Undine phoned back.

"There don't seem to be any hostile shadows near there!"Said Florence, having overheard and scanned that area.

"Let's go!" called Undine.

The run was actually quite dangerous. Even though no shadows targeted them, Undine and Florence still had to avoid exploding vehicles and stray attacks from the shadows. Though it was nowhere near as dangerous as Thad and Donner thought it would be.

By the time the two groups had reached each other, Senna had gotten out of her daze, but was in great pain.

"Ahh! Look, just leave me behind after you drop me off. That girl may be going after Evan."She said.

"You want me to abandon you when you're hurt like this?" Exclaimed Thad, "Seriously Senna?"

"It's fine. We'll watch over her." Said Undine, referring to herself and Florence.

The five began running towards the hospital; Thad and Donner were holding Senna by their shoulders and supporting her.

"What girl?" asked Undine.

"Clary Reynolds." Sputtered Senna.

"Wait, that Celeb attacked you?" asked Florence.

"She had a persona, which I think she called Samael. We didn't get a good look at it due to all the red mist." Said Thad.

"Wait, if she has a persona, then shouldn't she be on our side?" asked Undine.

"We don't know what her intentions are. All we know is that she wants Evan." Said Donner.

"We'd better call him!" said Undine, flipping out her phone.

"Evan!"

"Uh Undine, this isn't really a good time!" said Evan over the Phone.

"Why not?" she asked worriedly

"There's a massive shadow climbing the building and I think it's coming for me and Leo!"

* * *

><p>EARLIER:<p>

Evan's eyes shot open. He could recognize the distinctive bright purple sky and black raining blobs. It was the unknown hour. "Hey, Leo? We'd better get up." he said to his friend.

"Mmmmnnn... why so early-huh?!" Said Leo, his head shot up when he saw the signs of the unknown hour.

"Let's put shirts on..." Said Evan as he released himself from Leo's grasp, "I think Thad or company should be expecting us."

"Probably" Said Leo, finding a red shirt

After Evan dressed into a blue shirt (and Leo did the same with his red one), the two walked out of the apartment to find Clary standing in the hallway. "Hey, long time no see, Evvie!?" She said playfully.

"I thought you were still at that stupid concert, singing about torturing gay people to death, you whore!?" Evan's voice was filled with spite.

"Ahh, you can run but you cannot hide international has been very good to me indeed. But that's not the reason I'm here. I'm here because you're fighting the savior, and we can't have someone fighting to let evil rule the earth, can we?"She said somewhat seductively.

"What savior? I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, bitch!" Said Evan angrily.

"Hehehe.. Sorry, but you won't live long enough to know..."Said Clary, before her voice became just as spiteful and enraged as Evan's when she said "Meet the Satan you love! Come, Samael!"

With that red mist began to coalesce around Clary as she summoned Samael. The blood red jetpack-wearing Katana dual-wielding gang biker/motorcross rider hybrid that was the extremist idol's persona emerged out of the mist and, with Clary's call of "Hama!", crossed it's swords rapidly in a manner that caused the Japanese Kanji characters to line up, emerging from the sword glowing gold and with a spell tag forming into existence behind them. Milliseconds later, Samael thrust his swords outwards, sending the spell tag forwards slightly, but also launching the Kanji at Evan. All of this happened so fast that Evan barely had any time to react, but Leo tackled him out of the way of the expel blast before it struck him. Leo had also just avoided being hit himself.

"Aww, You'd give your life for your boyfriend?" Asked Clary mockingly to Leo. "You know homosexuality is a worse sin than murder."

"We don't believe in sin or any god!" yelled Evan and Leo, getting up

"Then die, Satanists!" Hissed Clary in the most spiteful, wicked, angry, hate-filled voice imaginable.

Just as she summoned Samael, Evan and Leo Called on Bael and Malphas.

Samael used eternal white just as Malphas used Eiha and Bael fired a Frei.

The attacks had hit just at the same time, creating a massive explosion. Due to the increased power of the eternal white compared to the Frei/Eiha combination, it threw Evan and Leo backwards into a hole created from a part of the explosion.

Tattered, dirty, and dazed, Evan and Leo looked up at Clary. "It's a shame I can't kill you now. But I'll-" she got a phone call, "Clary at your- Oooh, my lucky day! I found him, just like you said... oh! Yay!"

"Bitch!" said Leo.

"Turns out, you're going to hell today! Enjoy your trip, because it'll be full of the pain you deserve, Evvie!" Clary left laughing, and a wooshing sound could be heard just as she stopped giggling.

Then, massive thundering crash after massive thundering crash could be heard, and then a roar so loud it shattered the window at the end of the hallway. Shocked, Evan and Leo looked out said shattered window, only to see a massive wingless dragon shadow with six legs climbing up the building. The two immediately retreated inside, holding each other in fear. Then, out of the blue, Evan got a phone call:

"Evan!" Called Undine.

"Uh Undine, this isn't really a good time!" said Evan over the Phone.

"Why not?" she asked worriedly

"There's a massive shadow climbing the building and I think it's coming for me and Leo!".

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

><p>I might have lied about the action part, but still, great cliffhanger, I suppose? Also, do any of you think that finding out more about the cult or "the savior" will be interesting? If so, tell me. I sure won't disappoint.<p>

As above make sure to rate, review, and comment (preferably all, with an extra helping of concrit)


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